Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me start by saying, when it comes to national security and serious crime legislation, One Nation will always take a tough stance. So, from the outset, One Nation will support the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill, which deals with serious crime, particularly inside secure areas of our ports and airports. Can I commend the former Minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, and his senior adviser, Mark Dominic, for giving me a thorough understanding of this bill. What the member for Dickson has achieved as Minister for Home Affairs will never quite be understood or realised by many Australians, but I, for one, thank him, and it's worth passing on my gratitude to his wife, Kirilly, and young family for the work they also have allowed Mr Dutton to perform in his previous role as Home Affairs minister.

Now to the heart of this bill: Australia has a very serious issue with the importation of illicit drugs and illegal firearms. If you want to know why, it's because Australians pay a higher price for drugs than most other countries across the globe, so it's fair to say the risk of getting caught is worth the financial reward in far too many cases. To give you an example, here in Australia a gram of cocaine sells for at least $300, whereas in the Netherlands it's less than $60 a gram and, worse still, in South Africa they're paying $32. When drug dealers are buying it for $3.50 a gram in Colombia and selling it for $300 or more here in Australia, they are making enormous profits that unfortunately help buy illegal favours from people in trusted and secure positions within our ports and airports.

I have seen the volume of drugs coming into this country firsthand, thanks to the AFP. I have been in the belly of one of the Australian Federal Police drug vaults, which, that day, was carrying over $5 billion worth of illicit drugs seized by officers—drugs which would have otherwise have been up the noses and in the arms of someone's children here in Australia. You don't forget the pungent stench of chemicals when you walk into a police drug vault, nor do you forget the sight of plastic wrapped bricks of cocaine stacked in aisles similar to an Aldi store. Honestly, there was more white powder and ice in that vault than on the slopes of Thredbo. I can only paint the picture, but this is what's being broken down and peddled on streets by scumbags who don't give a damn about the carnage they're creating throughout society. Suicide, relationship and family breakdowns, mental illness, addiction, antisocial behaviour, sex crimes, unemployment—the list goes on and on. Drugs are a scourge on society whichever way you look at it. Anyone who advocates for the decriminalisation of illicit drugs needs to spend a night on the frontline with police, ambulance and nursing staff who are having to deal with the psychotic symptoms they bring out in users.

Most Australians, when they've taken a domestic or international flight, would have seen an ASIC card around the necks of pilots, crew members and airport workers. They're a red-dot photo ID card that provides access to all of the secure areas of an airport. An MSIC card provides the same level of security clearance for our ports; the only difference is that they're blue. What's happening is that, despite the assessment by ASIO and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, who look at someone's criminal history, these cards are still being issued to people who police know have an extremely close affiliation with known or previously convicted drug dealers, terrorists and other serious criminals. As the law stands today, any Australian could have an El Chapo- or Osama bin Laden-type character renting a spare room in their home and still make an application for an MSIC or ASIC card, and there's nothing authorities can do to prevent the security access card being granted. It's a cosy loophole that criminals have exploited for far too long, and I'm pleased to say that it ends today. If you want to shack up with criminals, don't expect to maintain clearance to secure ports and airports across Australia. It's as simple as that.

For Labor to deny passage of this bill today tells me that Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party prefer supporting organised crime gangs more than getting serious about cutting the supply of illicit drugs and illegal guns on our streets. I recognise the unions have concerns with this bill—I've listened to you—but we cannot continue protecting this very small cohort of union members. The vast majority of union members want this cleaned up as much as anyone in the public, so it's time to get rid of the one per cent or fewer who give unions a bad name. The unions talk a big game about the importance of safety on job sites—well, this is a safety mechanism we parliamentarians are implementing to better safeguard our nation's children, their members' children and broader society from the scourge of drugs and illegal firearms. Again, I reiterate One Nation's strong support for this bill.

On a side note, I congratulate the Federal Police on their more recent sting, which shocked the criminal world as much as the tech world, with their AN0M app. This was a stroke of genius that originated here in Australia and penetrated the heart of some of the worst criminal activity here at home and across the globe. Operation Ironside saw 224 people charged, 3,700 kilos of drugs taken off Australia's streets, $45 million in cash seized, 20 murder plots foiled and 72 firearms and weapons seized.

We have the advantage of being an island nation, which gives this parliament and authorities the upper hand in preventing illegal drugs and firearms flooding our streets, unlike many other countries across the globe. Today's Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2020 will go a step further in shutting down criminal activity within Australia. I commend the bill.